South Texas balladeer Jesus “Chuy” Quintanilla, known for the narcocorrido storytelling that mythologizes drug cartels, was found shot to death Thursday in the citrus groves north of Mission, authorities said.

Quintanilla's body, discovered by irrigation workers, was in a pool of blood next to his SUV. He was shot at least twice in the head, according to Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño.

Quintanilla's family informed the department that they hadn't been able to reach the singer since Wednesday evening.

Treviño said sheriff's investigators were pursuing several leads but had no suspects or motive.

While Mexican musicians of narcocorridos are frequently the target of violence, Treviño said his office had never investigated a homicide where the motive was linked to the type of music the victim sang or wrote.

“It's no secret that (Quintanilla) had a few songs considered narcocorridos,” the sheriff said. “Does that have anything to do with this? I have no idea.”

In a 2009 interview with National Public Radio, Quintanilla described the term narcocorrido as “vulgar,” preferring to think of his songs as stories about current events.

He recorded dozens of albums. One of his more famous songs, “The Ballad of Tony Tormenta,” was about Antonio Cárdenas Guillén, once the leader of the Gulf Cartel who was killed in a gunfight in Matamoros in 2010.